DPR authorities hope POWs exchange to be performed before the end of the year – Morozova

DPR authorities hope POWs exchange to be performed before the end of the year, said DPR Ombudsman Daria Morozova.

“We hope the POWs exchange to be performed before the end of the year. I have great hopes for international community and the Normandy Four to pressure Ukraine into implementing Article 6 of the Package of Measures,” she said.

Morozova added that the protraction of the exchange process lay in “the lack of political will of the Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko”.

“As soon as Ukrainian negotiators in Minsk receive instructions from their president the exchange will be performed. There are no more legal or judicial pitfalls. The only obstacle is Poroshenko’s reluctance. The political will is needed,” she said.

According to latest statistics, Kiev keeps 499 participants of the conflict imprisoned. There are 231 persons whose whereabouts in the territory of Ukraine have been confirmed, 268 persons whose whereabouts are unknown or are being clarified, 2 persons for whom the requests were made to the Ukrainian side for the first time.